Pylon opponents shocked at arrogance

Transpower’s decision today to submit to the
Electricity Commission a revised proposal for a new 400kV
line of 70 metre pylons has shocked the lobby group opposed
to the line, New Era Energy.

“This new proposal has
little significant difference economically from the proposal
that was rejected by the Electricity Commission earlier this
year. Transpower is attempting to mislead the New Zealand
public into believing that their proposal is somehow a
solution to Auckland’s power crises, when in reality there
are better, cheaper, and less obtrusive solutions that make
much more economic and environmental sense”, says Bob
McQueen, a spokesman for New Era Energy.

Almost exactly
two years after the first 400 KV proposal was introduced in
2002 to huge opposition and protest, Transpower continue to
push this out of date technology in spite of clear signals
from the Electricity Commission that the capacity of this
line will likely never be needed. “It’s the ‘think
big’ mentality of the SOEs of the 60s still alive and well
in Transpower”, says McQueen, “and somehow the arrogant
Transpower corporate culture that was the real cause of the
Auckland blackout in June has to be corrected”.

Step by
step upgrades to the three existing Whakamaru to Otahuhu
lines, by thermal uprating, then duplexing and new
technology conductor replacement, can meet the same capacity
as the new Transpower proposal, without the need for a new
line of monster 70 metre pylons through virgin Waikato
countryside, with the blight eventually spreading rapidly
throughout all of New Zealand.

The key to a long term
economic and reliable electricity supply for Auckland lies
in the construction of new technology thermal generation
facilities in or north of the Auckland region, rather than
overbuilding the national grid with outdated pylon
technology to bring South Island hydro generated power north
over huge distances. “This is a generation problem, not a
transmission problem”, says Bob McQueen. “The limited
water storage in the southern hydro lakes means that
Auckland should not have to continue to rely on
rainfall-dependant hydro generation at the end of a fragile
1000 kilometre transmission line. Auckland should be
demanding its own secure generation capacity close at hand,
and the Government should be acting to encourage urgent
construction of at least one or more of the four proposals
for new thermal generation plants in or north of Auckland
that were announced last year. More generation in the
Auckland region is what will keep Auckland’s lights on,
not Transpower’s deeply flawed 400kV proposal.”

New
Era Energy are relying on an impartial review of the new
proposal by the Electricity Commission to come up with the
same “NO” answer that it gave to Transpower for an
almost identical proposal earlier this year. “We hope that
the political interference that resulted in the sacking of
the former Electricity Commission Chairperson, Roy
Hemmingway, won’t result in a politically “forced”
decision from the supposedly independent Electricity
Commission.”

“We’ve seen recent evidence of the
Government directly criticising and attempting to influence
independent watchdogs like the Auditor General, the
Electricity Commission, and the Commerce Commission” said
McQueen. “We hope that the facts and the economic evidence
will be allowed to be considered independently and
impartially by the Electricity Commission, and that the more
sensible line upgrade and Auckland region generation
alternatives will again cause the rejection of this arrogant
Transpower proposal”.

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